Voice views on CWD

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, October 14, 2008

The Michigan departments of natural resources and agriculture and Michigan State University Extension will host a series of town hall meetings across the state prior to the firearm deer hunting season for the public to learn more about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and the state’s response plan to manage the disease.

The meetings closest to the Thumb area include:

• Frankenmuth on Monday, Oct. 27. The meeting will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Bronner Theater, located at 525 E. Genesee in Frankenmuth.

• Grayling on Wednesday, Oct. 29. The meeting will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Grayling High School, located at 1135 N. Old US-27.

At the meetings, staff from the DNR and MDA will present information on CWD and the state’s emergency response plan for the disease. A question-and-answer session will follow the presentations.

On Aug. 25, the DNR and MDA confirmed the state’s first case of CWD in a 3-year-old privately-owned white-tailed deer in Kent County. It is still unknown how the animal became infected.

CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose. Infected animals display abnormal behaviors, loss of bodily functions and a progressive weight loss. Current evidence suggests that the disease is transmitted through infectious, self-multiplying proteins (prions). Prions are normal cell proteins whose shape has been transformed, causing CWD. The disease is transmitted by exposure to saliva of infected animals. Susceptible animals can also acquire CWD by eating feces from an infected animal, or soil contaminated by them. Once contaminated, soil is thought to remain a source of infection for many years, making CWD a particularly difficult disease to eradicate.

If you're interested — and because hunting is such big business here in the Thumb — make it a point to attend one of these two sessions.